Iran Is Making More Missiles Despite UN Sanctions

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Iran has likely ramped up efforts to rebuild its missile program despite the recent reimposition of sanctions by the United Nations, CNN reported on October 29, citing European intelligence sources.

According to the report, several shipments of sodium perchlorate, a key chemical used in producing solid rocket fuel, arrived from China at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in late September.

The UN sanctions were reimposed earlier on the same month under the “snapback” mechanism of the 2015 nuclear deal. The sanctions prevent Iran from developing or testing ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Both China and Russia opposed the reinstatement.

Sodium perchlorate is essential for manufacturing solid-fueled ballistic missiles, and the deliveries may form part of a “determined effort” by the Islamic Republic to replenish its missile stockpiles depleted during the recent war with Israel, the European intelligence sources told CNN.

The shipments, reportedly with a total weight of around 2,000 tons, were traced by Western intelligence and linked to Chinese suppliers.

Many of the cargo vessels involved have made repeated trips between China and Iran since April, some turning off their tracking systems en route, a tactic often used to obscure sanction-breaching transfers.

Earlier in the month, a senior Iranian lawmaker said that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had lifted all limits to the range of the Islamic Republic’s missiles.

“The Islamic Republic has developed and will continue to develop its missile program to any extent it deems necessary,” said Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of parliament’s national security committee, on October 8.

While Khamenei had previously capped missile range at 2,200 kilometers, he has now “removed any such limitation,” Ardestani stressed, adding that Tehran will accept “no limits on missile range,” which he described as its “most important element of military power.”

On October 18, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled upgraded versions of two of its ballistic missiles, the Emad and Qadr, along with overhauled launchers that were damaged during the war with Israel. The guards didn’t, however, provide any details.

The war broke out on June 13, when Israel launched a surprise attack against Iran’s nuclear program. The targets of the war were quickly expanded to include the missile program of the Islamic Republic. However, the fighting ended when a ceasefire was suddenly announced on June 24, just two days after the United States joined Israel by attacking three key Iranian nuclear sites.

The Israeli military estimated that some two-thirds of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, around 250, were destroyed during the war, along with around 1,000 of the missiles. Some were destroyed from the ground by commandos deployed by the Mossad spy agency.

Still, the military acknowledged that the Islamic Republic managed to launch more than 500 ballistic missiles at targets all over Israel.

A total of 36 missile impacts in populated areas across Israel were reported. Later it was revealed that the real number of impacts was higher, and that the effectiveness of Israel’s air defense network had been seriously degraded towards the end of the war.

Iranian missile attacks on Israel claimed the lives of 28 people, all but one of them civilians, and wounded more than 3,000 others.

In addition, an impact was reported in the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar following an Iranian retaliatory missile attack right before the end of the war.

Iran’s missile program remains a credible threat. While it may not be enough to completely deter Israel, it certainly forced it to end the last war before accomplishing all of its goals. This threat also extends to the U.S. and its other allies in the Middle East, of course.

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